John cleese, robert hardy, felicity kendall, robert lindsay, cherie lunghi and helen mirren star in this collection of william shakespeare's comedies on the bbc. William shakespeare's repute spans the world the beauty of his language, his profound insight into human nature and the complexity and integrity of his characters, confirming him as the greatest ever playwright. In 1978, the bbc set itself the task of filming all of william shakespeare's plays for television. The resulting productions, renowned for their loyalty to the text, utilised the best theatrical and television directors and brought acclaimed performances from some of the finest actors. This collection includes 5 of the hugely popular comedies a midsummer night's dream much ado about nothing the taming of the shrew the winter's tale twelfth night running time 685 minutes region region 2 release date 18 04 2016